Keep Her Safe
by memorysdaughter
Summary: Six months after "Catch and Release," Skylar Adams comes back into the Alphas' lives.  Having risked life, limb, and more to get an unknown Alpha out of her abusive foster care home, Skylar needs help to keep the girl alive and safe.  Can the team help?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own only OCs.

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><p><span>Keep Her Safe<span>

Dr. Lee Rosen had just settled into his chair with the morning's messages when his phone rang. "Rosen."

"Yeah, hello, this is Mac's Auto Body and Customizing down on Twelfth. Your car's done."

"I think you must have the wrong number," Rosen said, putting the mail onto his desk. "I… I don't have a car at Mac's Auto Body."

"Well, your name's on this receipt and this car ain't gettin' any more done, so just come get it, all right?" There was an abrupt car horn blast in the back of the phone call, and then the call was terminated.

For a moment Rosen just stared at the phone. It was only when the off-the-hook signal beeped in his ear that he replaced the receiver. Standing up, he grabbed his jacket from the coat rack in the corner, and headed out of his office.

Down the hall Nina was in the break room, fixing a cup of coffee. Rosen stuck his head in. "I'm stepping out for a bit," he said.

"All right," Nina said.

"I'm headed down to Mac's Auto Body on Twelfth. Might need you to bring the team out there. I'll call and let you know."

At this Nina looked up. "Why?"

"Just got a message that my car's done," Rosen said as he headed for the elevators.

Nina peered out of the break room after him. "What's that got to do with the team?" she asked.

"Well, for one thing – my car's in the parking garage downstairs," Rosen replied. "And for another, I've never heard of Mac's Auto Body."

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><p>Dr. Rosen pulled into the parking lot of Mac's Auto Body and Customizing. It was an unpretentious shop, squat and ugly, the kind of business usually occupied by tough-talking Italian-American grease-monkeys on sitcoms. He parked his car at the far end of the parking lot and headed for the entrance.<p>

Inside the counter was manned by a scruffy young man in a black T-shirt and grease-stained coveralls. Without looking up from the account book he was studying, he said, "Welcome to Mac's Auto Body and Customizing, home of the $29.90 oil change special. How can I be of service today?"

Having noticed the young man's name tag, Dr. Rosen said, "Hello, Tony. I received a call saying my car was finished."

The mechanic looked up. "Oh, yeah. Hi. Rosen, right? With the '98 Taurus station wagon?"

"That's the one," Dr. Rosen said.

"Be right up," the mechanic said, and disappeared into the back, accompanied by the ambient noises of hydraulic wrenches and the pouring of oil.

Rosen took the time to look around the shop. There was nothing that suggested he was being set up for a Candid Camera-esque prank, but there was nothing that suggested the origin of the mysteriously-appearing '98 Taurus station wagon.

Tony reappeared with a sheaf of papers. "Here's the invoice," he said. "Bobby's got the car out in front."

He handed the invoice across the grimy desk to Dr. Rosen. At the top, written in a feminine hand, was his name and office phone number. Rosen surveyed down at the charges, all of which seemed fairly reasonable: oil change, windshield wiper replacement, battery change, headlight repair. At the bottom of the invoice was Tony's big, looping signature, and what looked to be the non sequitur of the invoice – an address. _501 Chapel St., #14_.

"That'll be $89.90," Tony said, ringing up the charges on the cash register.

Rosen paid him – after all, he couldn't very well explain that the Taurus wasn't his, not with his name big as day at the top.

In the parking lot adjoining the body shop was a turquoise Taurus station wagon. A portly mechanic in grimy blue coveralls was cleaning the windshield. "Have a great day, sir," he said, finishing up the task as Rosen approached.

"Thank you," Rosen said.

The mechanic nodded once, briskly, and headed back to the garage with his windshield wiper still dripping cleaning fluid onto the ground.

The car was unlocked, with the keys in the ignition. For a moment Rosen just looked the car over. It was empty and spotlessly clean, as though it had just been given a complete overhaul. It looked, for lack of a better or more precise term, _new_.

After staring at the car for a bit, Rosen went around to the back of the station wagon and opened the car's hatch. Still nothing. He ran his hand under the trunk mat, looking for anything that would give him a bit more information – a receipt, a message, anything.

Nothing.

With that, suddenly conscious that the mechanics' eyes were on him, Rosen slammed the hatch shut, climbed into the driver's seat, and drove out of the parking lot.

When he was sitting at the first traffic light, he called the office. "Gary, it's Dr. Rosen."

"Hello, Dr. Rosen. Today is Monday. We are supposed to have a therapy session this morning, but you are not here."

"I know that, Gary. I'm sorry. I got called away expectedly."

"On Mondays we have a therapy session at ten o'clock."

"Yes, we do, Gary. I'll try to be back soon. Could you do something for me? It might help me get back to the office a bit faster."

"Yes, I can help you, Dr. Rosen."

"Good man, Gary. I'm going to read you an address. Could you tell me what's there?"

"Yes."

Rosen read off the address from the bottom of the invoice. "501 Chapel Street, number fourteen."

"It's a motel," Gary said almost immediately. "Windmill Plaza Motor Lodge. Rooms start at twenty-five-ninety for a king-size bed, one night stay."

"What else, Gary?"

"There's a guy kicking a pop machine outside the manager's office."

"Do you recognize him?"

"No, I don't know anyone at the Windmill Plaza Motor Lodge."

"Thank you for your help, Gary. I'll try to be back soon."

"We have a therapy session at ten o'clock, Dr. Rosen," Gary answered, and hung up.

Ten minutes later Rosen pulled into the parking lot of the Windmill Plaza Motor Lodge. If Mac's Auto Body was unpretentious and a bit ugly, the motor lodge was a dump. A few beat-up cars were parked on the strip of asphalt in front of the long, low-slung building that housed the fifteen rooms for rent and the manager's office. No one was abusing the Pepsi machine out front; apparently the pop machine vigilante Gary had seen had departed.

Rosen parked the car and looked at the door of Number 14. The shades were drawn in the window and there were no signs of life.

He tucked his cell phone into his pocket, locked the Taurus, and crossed the parking strip at a brisk walk. As he drew closer to room fourteen, he could hear screams. Long, loud, heart-breaking screams, in which the screamer barely paused for breath before starting again. The screamer was feminine and young.

Immediately Rosen ran to the door and banged on it. "Hello? Hello? I'm a doctor!"

For a moment, there was nothing but the screams. And then the door flew open, a face appearing in the sudden opening.

Rosen took a step backwards. "Skylar," he said, trying to hide his surprise as the tattooed Alpha stared back at him. She was skinnier than Rosen remembered her. There were dark bruise-colored smears under her eyes, and her bare arms were covered in scratches and wounds. There was a hole in her shirt collar, as though someone had grabbed on and refused to let go, ceding control only when the shirt itself was torn.

"You're a psychiatrist," Skylar said, speaking loudly to be heard over the screams, which were definitely echoing from inside room fourteen. "Some people would say you're not a real doctor."

She opened the door further to admit him, and he was in for an even bigger surprise.

"You're pregnant," Rosen said. The screams were ringing around him and he felt dizzy and unaware; he'd been thrust into a situation he could not even begin to comprehend.

Skylar looked down at her ripped T-shirt, as though seeing her swollen belly for the first time. "Yeah."

"When did…?"

"In time, Dr. Freud," she said. "Get in here before somebody calls the cops again."

She grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him into the room, into uncertainty.

And all Rosen could think of was his promise to Gary: "_I'll try to be back soon."_

It was a statement that he now realized would end up being a complete and total lie.


	2. Chapter 2

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><p><span>Keep Her Safe<span>

The door slammed behind Rosen and he began to take in his surroundings. Number fourteen at the Windmill Plaza Motor Lodge was like a lot of American motel rooms – plain, repeatable, and slightly grimy. The colors were non-descript and the furnishings were forgettable. It was a place that had been carefully calculated to give nothing of itself to visitors; it was someplace that would be wiped from memory nearly immediately upon check-out.

What made room fourteen different was its occupants. Skylar stood near the door, watching Dr. Rosen carefully, saying nothing. On the single king-size bed was a screaming, writhing, mess of a person. A heavy-duty hockey helmet, complete with face mask, obscured the person's entire head, but from the pink Converse high-tops and the pink fleece jacket the screamer wore, Dr. Rosen deduced that this person – _child_, really – was female.

Upon closer inspection, Rosen noted that the girl's jacket sleeves ended in mitts that appeared to be made from heavy black canvas. _To keep her safe_, he thought, _but from whom?_

Speaking loudly over the screams, Rosen said, "Why does she scream?"

"There are a lot of theories," Skylar said, almost off-handedly. "My guess is her head's too full."

"Full of what?"

"Or because she's got the helmet on," Skylar went on, as though she had not heard Dr. Rosen. "She hates the helmet."

"But she hurt you," Rosen deduced, looking over at Skylar's bruises and cuts.

"She hurt herself first," Skylar replied.

"Are you all right?"

"I've been better," Skylar said. Her eyes stayed on the girl.

"Who is she, Skylar?"

Skylar was quiet for a bit. At last she swallowed hard and said, "This is Thea."

Rosen approached the bed cautiously. "May I?" he asked, looking at Skylar for permission. She nodded, and he sat down on the edge of the bed. Sensing the change in pressure, the girl rolled her heavy helmeted head towards him. The tone of her screams softened a bit; she sounded as though she was a bit breathless, unable to get in enough air. "Hello, Thea," Rosen said quietly. "I'm Dr. Rosen. I'm a friend. I'm here to help."

She gasped once and then was quiet. Rosen leaned in towards her. Behind the helmet's wire face mask, her eyes were blank and faraway, scanning for something she could not focus upon.

"She's blind," Skylar said from her corner of the room. "Legally blind. She sees light. It's how she…"

Her sentence trailed off.

"How she what, Skylar?"

But Thea had hold of his sleeve, pinching it with surprisingly wiry fingers despite the heavy mitt over her hand. Rosen looked back at her, making eye contact, and then –

It felt like an air raid siren was going off in Rosen's head. The noise was pervasive and all-consuming, bigger than Thea's screams. It was the kind of noise that could liquefy stone, turn brain to mush, and the last conscious thought Rosen had knew the exact name for it – _psionic blast_.

And then he was back, laying on the bed with a headache pulsing between his temples.

Skylar, breathing heavily, had Thea's arms pinned to the quilted hotel bedspread. "Sorry," she said.

Rosen sat up. "I… what…?"

"She tried to liquefy you," Skylar said. "It's… it's what she does."

Thea screamed and ripped her arms away from Skylar, then began to beat her helmet with both mitted hands, howling.

"She knows she was a bad girl," Skylar said, seemingly speaking to Thea. "Bad girl, Thea."

As though attempting to punish herself for the attempt to fry Rosen's brain, Thea pounded harder, slapping her hands hard against the heavy helmet.

"No, no, stop," Rosen said, and reached forward to grab Thea's hands. "She didn't know, Skylar. She didn't… shh, Thea, it's all right."

He grabbed her mitted hands and pulled them towards him. "Shh, it's all right, Thea."

To Skylar, he said, "Will you take the helmet off?"

"Your risk, Rosen."

"Please."

Skylar shrugged, then leaned in and undid a strap running around the back of Thea's head. She gently pulled the helmet off the girl's head.

For a moment Rosen was struck by how absolutely lost the girl looked. Her big brown eyes swam, searching for something. Her hair was light brown and had been closely shorn to her head by someone who wasn't a fan of trendy haircuts. Her eyes were puffy and there was drool running from her mouth. Thea reached up with one mitted hand still in Rosen's and wiped the drool with her sleeve. Then her eyes swam away again.

"Where is she from, Skylar?"

"Most recently? From a shithole of a foster home in Albany."

"And you went to get her," Rosen said gently, still watching Thea.

"Don't give me any of your psychoanalyst bullshit," Skylar said.

"But you _did_ go to get her."

"Well, yeah." Skylar sat down on the dirty cream-colored couch shoved into the corner. "My uncle… he found her. He works at the DOJ now, in… well, where we are… and Thea's foster parents were in on a child abuse case. Cops thought they'd shaken this baby. Kid _died_."

"And Thea…?" Rosen prompted.

"It was her," Skylar said flatly. "She got angry, fried his brain."

"And your uncle would have left her alone, except that someone came looking for her," Rosen guessed. "Somebody who wasn't willing to let Thea go."

"Yeah."

"Is that how…?" Rosen gestured to Skylar's arms.

"No, that's from the car trip down from Albany," Skylar replied. "She bit me, too. Bit herself, punched herself in the face. Bled all over. She knows she's doing wrong, but it's like she can't stop herself, only punish herself after the fact. The helmet cuts down on the self-abuse and lessens the chance she'll make eye contact with somebody who'd rather stay in possession of a brain."

"She's powerful," Rosen agreed. He watched Skylar for a moment. She looked so defeated, so utterly broken and alone. "Where do we go from here, Skylar?"

"_We_? _We_ don't go anywhere. You take Thea back to your people, keep her safe. I'm leaving."

"Skylar, you can't. You're…"

"Hormonal and highly unreasonable? Yeah, I get that one a lot, Doc." Skylar shook her head. "I'm not staying."

She pushed herself to her feet, wobbling a bit unsteadily, putting one hand to her belly. "I can't do anything more for her, anyway."

"At least come with me and tell me some more about Thea," Rosen encouraged. "Please."

Skylar hesitated, as though considering his offer, but finally she shook her head. "No. It's too dangerous."

"No, Skylar," Rosen said gently, "dangerous was you bringing Thea here by yourself. It was a very noble thing to do."

"Well, then call the queen and have me knighted," Skylar said, "but I'm not staying."

"No one's going to try to trap you, if that's what you're worried about," Rosen said, standing up. He was aware that he was almost pleading. "But I need more information, Skylar, if I'm going to keep Thea safe. And that's what you want, right?"

She shook her head, not budging. "No. Take her and get out of here."

"Skylar."

"No, just _go_."

On the bed, freed from Rosen's grasp, Thea began to slap her face, harder and harder, screaming.

In one motion Skylar and Rosen moved to her, Rosen pinning the girl's hands as Skylar fastened the helmet over Thea's short hair again. When she was safely behind the wire mask, Rosen looked up at Skylar. There were tears in the older Alpha's eyes as she looked down at Thea.

"Just for today," Rosen said softly. "Just for today, come with me. Tell me about Thea. And… about anything else. No judgment. It'll help me keep her safe. And it'll keep _you_ safe, too, Skylar. Both of you."

It must have been that, as mushy as it sounded, that convinced her. Skylar squared her shoulders. "I'll tell you about Thea," she said, "but I'm not really in the mood to talk about all… _this_."

She indicated her pregnant form.

"Fine," Rosen said, nodding in acquiescence. "Fine. We'll play by your rules."


	3. Chapter 3

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><p>In the elevator on the way up to his office, Rosen watched Thea. Her fingers moved constantly, frisking the entire elevator as fast as she could. Her helmet bobbed as she tried to figure out where she was. At last she found the door, and with a muffled scream, she slammed her head into the doors.<p>

Rosen leapt forward and grabbed Thea around the waist just as the elevator door opened. Caught off balance, girl and psychiatrist crashed onto the floor. Thea howled and scrabbled at Rosen's arms, trying to gain purchase.

Doors opened up and down the hallway, and Rosen shoved his glasses up on his nose just in time to see Bill stride towards them. In another few seconds, Bill had hauled Rosen up onto his feet, and the two stood looking down at Thea, who was still screaming, reaching out for a hand to hold that was not there.

"Who is screaming? Who is screaming? Why are they screaming?" came Gary's voice from down the hall. "Dr. Rosen and I had a therapy session at ten o'clock and he is not here and now someone is screaming."

"It's okay, Gary, we'll figure out who it is." That was Rachel, calm as usual.

"You all right, Doc?" Bill asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, Bill. Thank you for your assistance," Rosen said.

"_Someone is still screaming!"_

Thea reached out with her hands, searching the area around her desperately. She found the wall and pushed herself towards it, top-heavy, her helmet still touching the ground. She shoved herself to her knees and leaned against the wall as though she was drunk. The screams became softer and shorter, and she pressed herself against the wall, gasping and sobbing.

By now the rest of the team was in the hallway. Gary, with his hands over his ears, stood at the far end of the hallway, staring at Thea and Skylar. Rachel was next to him, her arm around his shoulders. Cameron had a coffee mug in his hand and looked concernedly at the assembled group.

Nina was the first to speak. "Skylar! What are you doing here? What's…"

"I don't want to talk about it." Skylar cut her off firmly.

"Nina, see if you can Push Thea," Rosen said.

"Don't look her in the eye," Skylar said.

"How am I supposed to…?" Nina looked at them, confused.

"She's blind, but if you make eye contact, you'll regret it," Rosen said. The vestiges of the headache Thea had given him were still ricocheting around in his skull.

Nina still looked doubtful, but she took Thea's elbow. "Listen to me," she said, her voice growing smooth and forceful, even as she looked up at Rosen with questioning eyes. "You are going to stay calm. You are going to listen to Dr. Rosen. You will not bang your head anymore."

For a moment there was silence, as though the team was holding its collective breath. And then Thea collapsed to the floor, as though her knees had given out. Splayed like a snow angel on the hallway floor, she breathed something that could have been an apology or a question.

Rosen crouched next to her. She looked peaceful, calm, almost sedated. Her eyes had slowed their frenzied flicking, and when he bent cautiously over her, she did not even attempt to make eye contact. Her breathing was slower; her body was no longer tense. "Thea," he said quietly.

"_Hmmm_," Thea said, and then she lay still.

Rosen stood up. Nina was the first to speak. "What the _hell_ is going on?"

"Skylar's come back for a visit," Rosen replied.

"Don't give me that bullshit," Nina said. "Who is this girl? Why can't we make eye contact? And what's…?"

"I know almost as little as you do," Rosen said. "Believe me, when I get some answers, you'll get them too."

He headed down the hallway. "Gary, I'm sorry I was late for your therapy session. Let's get started right now."

"I already put my lunch in the break room," Gary said. "And then we have our therapy session."

"Good man," Rosen said. "Lead the way."

Skylar looked around and grabbed a chair from one of the closer offices. Without a word to anyone else, she sat down, keeping her eyes focused on Thea.

"Skylar," Nina said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Skylar said, not looking up.

"Glad to see nothing's changed," Nina said, and went back to her office.

Slowly the crowd around Thea dispersed, leaving the helmeted girl and her pregnant protector alone in the hallway, encased in some sort of reverential silence.

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><p>When Rosen had finished Gary's therapy session, he released the young man and returned to his office to start some research. A quick Web search yielded several articles on the death of a young male foster child named Kenneth Ruiz, and the subsequent prosecution of his foster parents, Annette and Larry Seiss. The foster parents had been exonerated only by autopsy results that had proved, more or less, that the child had not died from being shaken. Instead his death was attributed to a rare brain malformation that had caused a capillary in the brain to rupture.<p>

No mention was made of Thea, at least not specifically. Two articles referenced the fact that the Seiss foster parents had been caring for children for the last twenty years and had never had a problem. At least, not a problem that had come to the attention of authorities. At the time of the article they were said to have eight foster children in their home. Because of the investigation these children were being placed in other facilities, as Annette and Larry would be unable to have foster children stay with them until their background checks were redone and all avenues of investigation had been exhausted in Kenneth Ruiz' death.

After learning all this, Rosen opened his office door and looked out. Skylar and Thea were still in the hallway, seemingly not having moved, although it had been more than an hour and a half since Rosen's retreat to his office. Rosen cleared his throat and Skylar looked up at him. He indicated his office with his head, and, to his surprise, she stood up and came towards him.

"I wanted to ask you some questions," he said as she came near. "Nothing… invasive. Just…"

"You found all the court records," she said.

"Yes. And the courts seemed to clear Thea's foster parents of any wrongdoing."

"That's because they were innocent."

"I know that." Rosen softened for a moment. "Where is Zoe, Skylar?"

"At home. And I thought we weren't going to talk about that."

"What _can_ we talk about, Skylar?"

She stared at him, inscrutable.

"You won't tell me why you went to get Thea… who's looking for her… why they want her. Will they come here? Will they fight us for her? What do I need to be prepared for?" Rosen shifted his stance. "I'm just worried about you, Skylar."

"I've told you everything I can."

"And I don't think that's true."

"Then I guess we're at an impasse." She shrugged. "Get your team to do whatever it is they do. You'll figure out the truth sooner or later. That's the best I can do."

And with that, she turned away from him, returned to her chair near Thea's prone, inert form, and resumed her vigil.

_You'll figure out the truth sooner or later_ – Rosen wondered if Skylar was talking about Thea… or herself.


	4. Chapter 4

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><p>Blurry. Light. Too big. Swirls.<p>

Blink.

Blurry. Light. Too big. Swirling.

Blink. Blink.

Reach up. Nothing. Nothing. Blurry.

Blink.

Reach out. Nothing.

Blink.

Whimper. Reach out. Eyes left. Eyes right. Blurry. Spinning.

Blink.

Panicked breath. Whimper. Reach out. Blurry. Bright light.

Blink.

Panicked breath. Whimper. Too much noise.

Blink.

Scream.

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><p>Rosen came hurrying out of his office when Thea started screaming again. She had curled herself into a ball, the heavy helmet sticking out oddly like an abruptly placed doorknob. Her mitted hands reached for her ears, or where her ears would be if she wasn't wearing the helmet. She jackknifed in towards her body, her knees slamming into the metal face mask of the helmet.<p>

And then Nina was there, kneeling, trying to Push the girl again, from what Rosen could tell. She spoke quietly, earnestly.

This time Thea fought back. As though Nina's words had incensed her, she sat up and flailed out with her hands. She caught Nina off-guard and knocked Nina to the floor. With a howl, Thea reached out, grabbing Nina's arm and pulling.

Rosen intervened, running down the hallway to grab Thea from behind. Her heavy helmeted head swung around to face him and he turned his face to the wall so she couldn't make eye contact.

Nina had regained her balance by this time and she grabbed Thea's helmet by the face mask, turning the girl's head back towards her. She started speaking again, trying to Push.

But Thea must have made eye contact, because Nina went white, reaching for her temples, and then crumpled back to the floor.

"Thea, stop!" Skylar ordered, turning her own head. "Thea, let her go!"

The atmosphere in the room seemed to grow heavier, thicker; tension was clearly rising. Rosen felt his own head swim and he struggled to hold Thea's arms.

She pinched his arm, hard, and he had to let go.

"Let go, Thea!" Skylar yelled, and she reached out and smacked Thea across the side of her helmet.

The girl's head bobbed and it was as though a switch had been thrown. The wave of tension that had swept the gathered group seemed to dissipate almost immediately.

Nina sat up a bit groggily. "What… the… _hell?"_ she demanded.

"You made eye contact," Skylar said simply.

Thea sat down slowly, docilely almost, and brought one mitted hand up to the face mask, trying to get her fingers into the openings between each wire, trying to bite them.

"Are you all right?" Rosen asked Nina.

"I think I will be." The dark-haired woman looked upset, and Rosen, having been on the receiving end of Thea's psionic blast, knew how she felt. "I just… I can't do this at the moment."

She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled towards the break room.

Rosen stood up and looked at Skylar. She stared back impassively, her face showing nothing.

"Dr. Rosen?" That was Gary, calling from down the hallway. "I think I've found what you asked me for."

"I'll be right there, Gary," Rosen said, and he gave Skylar one last look, begging her silently to tell him everything he was missing, everything that would solve the puzzle that had come into his life the moment she'd opened the motel room door.

Whatever he was looking for, she clearly wasn't going to give it to him.

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><p>In Gary's workspace, Rosen found the young man twitching his hands back and forth, streaming information as quickly as he could. "What've you got, Gary?" Rosen asked.<p>

"I found the foster care records, and from there I was able to extrapolate all further data that can be found about the screaming girl in the hallway," Gary said. "Her full name is Xanthea Rose Murray, birthdate November 4, 2000. She weighed four pounds, one ounces at birth."

"Good man, Gary," Rosen said. "Anything else?"

"In her foster care records I found evidence of visits from Child Protective Services and the Department of Family and Child Services. Also there was a record, an unofficial record, about a visit from another government agency, but this one was buried very deep."

"Who was it?"

"The information was located on a back server at the Child Protective Services information clearinghouse," Gary said. "The file was made to look like every other file CPS stores in that particular area, but something was different about it. It had different fingerprints. Usually I would think it originated from the FBI or the NSA, but that doesn't make sense. I'm still trying to figure out where it came from."

Rosen nodded. Things were starting to fall into place for him, slowly. He couldn't see the full picture, but he was generating a few ideas that might explain how Skylar and Thea had come into the Alphas' lives. "Anything else, Gary?"

"Yes. Skylar Adams is twenty-two weeks, two days pregnant."

This startled Rosen. "How did you know that?"

Gary smiled at the psychiatrist. "I go everywhere, Dr. Rosen."

It was a very un-Gary-like response, and it made Rosen smile. He clapped Gary on the back. "You sure do, Gary. Thanks for this information."

"I am going to eat my lunch now," Gary said. "It is twelve-thirty-two and usually I would be finished with my lunch by now, but today is a different day."

"Yes. Thank you for understanding, Gary."

"I don't understand. I am willing to accommodate." With that, the young man hurried out of his office.

And Rosen went back to his, only slightly less confused than when he'd left it moments before.

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><p>Blink.<p>

_Let go, Thea! Let go!_

_Thea is a bad girl. Bad girl, Thea_.

Blink. Blink.

Hum. Fingers up towards mouth. Reach out.

Blink.

_Bad girl, Thea._

_Bad__ girl, Thea_.

Blink.

Tilt head. Hum.

Blink.

_She sees everything, and don't you tell me she's blind. Whoever said that's full of shit_.

Blink.

_Thea, stop! Let go! Ow, Thea!_

_Thea, we're __trying__ to help you!_

Blink.

_Tell us where she is._

Blink.

Head tilt. Hum.

Sob.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: Sorry I haven't updated for awhile! Enjoy this chapter, and remember - reviews are love!

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><p>"Come on, Skylar," Rosen said, standing in the doorway of his office.<p>

She looked up at him. "What?"

"We're going home," he said.

"No. I'm not going with you and…"

"Skylar. It's not up for debate." Rosen grabbed his briefcase and his jacket. "Tonight you and Thea will stay with me, and tomorrow we'll figure out where we go next. But you both look like you could use some sleep, some clean clothes, some real food."

Skyler hesitated.

"Thea, we're going home," Rosen said to the girl on the floor.

Thea was on her back, staring up at the overhead fluorescents. Seemingly at Rosen's words, she raised one mitted hand towards the lighting and waved it back and forth, as though saying hello to the ceiling.

"Come on," Rosen said. "Thea, I'm going to help you off the floor now."

He grabbed her hands and pulled her upwards; as her head swung forward she gave a small "_aah"_ of pleasure. With less struggle than he was expecting, Rosen had Thea upright. He turned her in a circle, put his body behind her, and frog-marched her towards the elevator. "Skyler, are you coming?"

She was right behind him.

"Good," Rosen said, and smiled.

Rosen had kept the station wagon from Mac's Auto Body and Customizing at Skyler's request; it was parked in his usual space in the parking garage. He stowed his briefcase in the backseat and opened the hatch for Thea. Somehow, during Rosen's visual inspection of the car, he had missed the custom-installed buckles and metal rings that formed the basis of Thea's harness system.

"In the car, Thea," Skyler said, pointing to the open hatch.

Thea tilted her head and hummed.

"Thea, in the car," Skyler repeated, a little more forcefully.

Rosen stood behind Thea and took a few steps forward, pushing her body with hers. Thea brought her mitted hands up and tried to grab onto him, but the canvas slid quickly off the cotton of his shirt.

"In the car," Skyler said again.

Rosen took another step forward, close enough to the car that Thea's knees hit the bumper. Her top half crumpled forward and she went limp. Rosen grabbed the back of her pants and half-lifted her into the back of the station wagon. "Easy, Thea," he said. The girl whipped around, looking for whoever had shoved her into the vehicle.

Before Thea could make eye contact, Rosen grabbed the special seatbelts, ran them through the rings attached to the floor, wrapped them around Thea, and clicked them into the buckles. The girl was now immobilized, the harness crossing over her chest in an X, another strap holding her feet to the floor.

"Get in, Skyler," Rosen said as he slammed the hatch.

Thea loved the car, apparently. As the station wagon navigated the streets between the office and Rosen's house, she chirped and hummed, waving her mitted hands at the windows. Skyler sat rigidly in her seat, refusing to look at Rosen.

"What do you think about chicken fingers?" Rosen asked.

"In general, or as a meal suggestion for the evening?"

"Ah, Skyler, never could fool you. As a meal suggestion."

"Thea will eat that."

"And you?"

"I'm sure I can find something."

"I've got ice cream sandwiches, too."

"Sounds delightful."

"Skyler, is there something on your mind?"

"What happened to Agent Sullivan?"

This threw Rosen. "What?"

"Last time I was here, she was snooping around, sticking her nose into places it _really_ didn't belong."

"That was six months ago, Skyler. Things have changed."

Skyler laughed, a little sardonically. "Things don't change."

"I haven't seen Agent Sullivan in quite some time."

"Oh, so there's some new threat now?"

"Undoubtedly there is; if you look for threats you will find them," Rosen said.

Skyler made a dismissive noise with her mouth.

"Who's going to be looking for Thea, Skyler?"

"What did Gary tell you?"

"Gary can only find what's out there. So he's got information, but he can't predict the future."

"Huh."

Rosen slowed and put on his turn signal. "He did mention that someone was poking around in Thea's foster care files. Somebody high up. FBI, NSA, maybe somebody else."

"And you still think Agent Sullivan isn't going to show up again?"

"At this point I don't know what to think." Rosen turned the corner and accelerated. "It would help if I knew what to be on the lookout for."

"See anybody with a gun – they might be the ones to enjoy."

"Skyler."

From the back, Thea chortled, "Ha-_hum!_ Ha-_hum!"_ and she brought one hand up to tap against the station wagon's rear window. "Ha-ha! Ha-_ha!"_

"She sounds happy," Rosen commented.

"She doesn't know what we're up against."

"I don't know if that's true, Skyler," Rosen said. "Kids are smarter than we give them credit for, usually."

"_Nahhhh_," Thea said.

Dusk was falling as Rosen turned into his driveway. He raised the automatic garage door, pulled into the garage, turned the car off, and put the door back down. Then he went around the back of the station wagon to release Thea from her harness. Skyler opened the back door to get out the two duffel bags she'd taken from the motel.

Rosen frog-marched Thea through the back door. "Food or shower first, Thea?"

"Huhhhhh," Thea said. She flung her arms out, looking for something to grab.

"You're better off showering her first," Skyler said. "If you get her started on the food she won't want to take a shower."

"Um, okay," Rosen said. "How does that… usually work?"

"Not real well," Skyler said.

Rosen made a face. "I could have imagined that, Skyler. I meant, what's the best way to give Thea a shower?"

"Usually I just turn on the water, fill up the bath tub, and let her splash around. You'd better have a lot of clean towels."

Skyler didn't offer anything else, so Rosen decided to do exactly that. He filled the bathtub with hot water and two capfuls of Mr. Bubble, and then managed to corner Thea into the bathroom. Like a scared cat she leapt around, flailing against the bathroom walls, squealing in confusion. "_Heh. Heh. Heh. Heh!"_

"Thea, it's all right," Rosen said. "It's just the bathroom. We're going to take a bath."

He splashed his hands in the bathtub. "Bathtub, Thea."

He carefully approached her. She was squealing, grating her teeth, flapping her mitted hands up towards the mini-blinds. The blinds clanged against the windowsill.

"Easy, Thea."

"_Heh! Heh! Heh!"_

From the hallway came Skyler's voice: "You're going to have to pin her down to get her clothes off, but once she gets in the tub she'll be just fine."

Rosen said under his breath, "I'm so sorry, Thea." Then he grabbed the girl, threw one arm around her waist, and half-tackled her to the floor.

She rocked back against him, howling, the helmet clanking back and forth as she bobbed her head. Rosen pinned her legs down with his own legs, and undid the zipper running down Thea's back, the one holding her jacket on. The jacket came off quickly, and with it went the attached mitts.

He pried the helmet off gently, setting it on the floor next to him. Without it Thea looked helpless, straggly, confused. Her skin was very white; under the long-sleeved jacket she wore a thin pink T-shirt. "_Haaa_," Thea said.

With her legs still pinned down, Rosen managed to get Thea's shirt off. Her back was marred by two long, white, extremely straight scars, starting at her neck and ending below the waist of her black pants. "Thea, bathtub," Rosen said, his eyes still stuck on the scars. He splashed at the water.

Thea perked up, jerked her head around, and scooted forward, close enough to get her hands into the water. "_Ooooh!"_ she declared, and splashed her hands into the hot water. "_Eeee-oooh!"_

With her attention elsewhere, Rosen tugged off Thea's Converse sneakers, pink socks, sweat pants, and her pink underwear. Free from her clothes, Thea squealed with happiness and plunged herself into the bathtub wholeheartedly. "_Eeeh! Hah! Heh!"_

Rosen had to laugh. She looked like a little pixie, all knobby knees and elbows. It was appalling how skinny she was – all of her ribs were visible, and all the knobs of her spine had been prominent as well. "Have a good bath, Thea. I'll be back."

He closed the bathroom door quietly and headed back down the hallway. Skyler was slumped in a chair at the kitchen table, one hand on her belly, the other on her forehead.

"Skyler?" Rosen said quietly.

"I'm just tired, Doc. It's not a diagnosis."

"I bet you're hungry, too," Rosen said. He moved to the refrigerator and removed a packet of chicken fingers and one of frozen peas. "Let's get some dinner going."

He turned on the oven, then pulled out a cookie sheet and began to arrange the chicken on it. "Thea's pretty skinny," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Skyler asked, her head still down.

"It means that she probably wasn't treated very well in the places she's been," Rosen said. "No bearing on you, my dear."

"Her food has to be ground up."

"What?"

"Like baby food. It has to be ground up. She doesn't really know how to chew. Which is funny, if you think about it. She'll bite you, she'll bite herself, she chews her lips to shreds and if her fingers are free she'll make them bloody stumps – but she can't figure out how to chew food. Anything thicker than oatmeal makes her gag, and anything that makes her gag makes her vomit."

"That might explain why she looks so skinny," Rosen said, starting the timer on the chicken. "Most people won't put that kind of effort into feeding someone."

He put the peas into a saucepan and added some water, then snapped the burner on. He crossed the kitchen and sat down next to Skyler. "Let me rub your feet."

At that she looked up. "_What?"_

"You're all hunched over, I can't get you to talk about anything, and unlike a so-called 'real' doctor, there are only so many things I can do to help. So let me rub your feet, Skyler. If it doesn't help, you can call my malpractice insurance people."

At that she gave him a smile. "All right."

Rosen grabbed a pillow from the couch and positioned it behind her back. Skyler leaned back, adjusting the cushion, and gave him a longer, slower smile. Rosen took her oddly small feet in his hands and began rubbing her left.

"You're buttering me up," Skyler accused, still smiling. "Figure you'll get me feeling all good, and then you'll ask me those tough questions you seem to be so darn fond of."

"Oh, maybe," Rosen said. "After dinner, I could ask you some of those tough questions."

Skyler shook her head and closed her eyes.

"Just tell me this, Skyler," Rosen said, rubbing his thumbs into her foot, "are you happy?"

At that she let out a bark of laughter. Eyes still closed, she said, "Is anybody ever really happy, Dr. Rosen?"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers - and Happy New Chapter to everyone! Reviews are love!

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><p>Though her vocal vocabulary had long ago been reduced to a series of grunts, laughs, chirps, and squeals, Thea had perfect recall, and words flowed through her mind swiftly.<p>

_Mermaid, mermaid. In the bath tub I'm a mermaid_, she sang in her head. _I'm a mermaid swimming, swimming_.

"Ah-ha-ha!"

_Mermaids are beautiful_.

"Huh. Huh. Ha!"

Thea splashed her arms into the water. Droplets flew up and hit her on the face. She giggled and stuck her tongue out like a dog, then splashed some more. "Ha! Hee!"

She kicked her legs. "La! Ha! Hee!"

She rolled her eyes and slapped at the water some more.

The glint of the mirror caught her eye, and she forced herself to look away.

_Mermaids don't need mirrors. Don't look, sweetheart._

"Ha. La-aah. La-aah."

_Splash, splash, splash_.

There was a knock at the door. "Thea? How are you doing?" It was that nice doctor.

"Laa-ha. Laaa!"

The door opened, letting in a rush of cool air, and the doctor came into the bathroom. "I have your shampoo," he said, and his hands moved, golden in the light.

"Eeeh, ooh," Thea said, and splashed her hands in the water. She loved having her hair washed. Despite the fact that she had very little hair, she loved the closeness, the tenderness of the entire thing. It was as close as most people got to her. And she tried to behave… _tried_ being the operative word.

More movement, and the doctor knelt next to the tub. "I'll wash your hair, and then we'll have dinner."

"Aaah," Thea said.

She leaned towards the far side of the tub. The smell of baby shampoo was heavy in the air, and suddenly Thea felt cold, exposed. Goosebumps rose up on her skin, and she flinched away from Rosen.

"It's okay," he said, his voice calm. "I'm just going to wash your hair."

Her eyes were wildly scanning the room, and she raised one hand to her mouth. Her hand was wet and smelled like soap.

The room was way too small.

Thea panicked; all of a sudden her body contracted and she flailed out, arms and legs scrambling in the air, howling. "_Naaaaah!"_

She sloshed over the side of the tub and landed on the tile floor, breathing hard. Unsteadily she pushed herself to her knees, listing like a drunk. "_Naaaah!"_

Rosen rocked back on his heels. He put the shampoo on the sink. "Thea, it's okay. Thea…"

But she wasn't listening. She was up on her feet now, hands outstretched, looking for the door. Her chest felt tight, like she was being crushed, and her breathing was loud and raspy – "Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha."

Rosen grabbed a towel from the rack. As Thea turned to look for the door, he wrapped her in the towel and scooped her up.

She howled and immediately turned her head towards him. She furrowed her brow and tried to make eye contact.

The doorbell rang.

"Skyler, will you get that?" Rosen hollered, still wrestling with Thea.

There was no answer. The doorbell rang again.

Rosen groaned. He wrapped one arm around Thea and grabbed her pajamas from the counter. He hurriedly sat down on the wet bath mat and struggled her into them.

"Ha. Ha. Ha," Thea grunted, and tried to head-butt him.

"Almost there," Rosen said, and zipped up the footie pajamas. Before he let her go he slid the helmet back over her head and clipped the strap behind her head. "There you go. All done."

He stood up and pulled the plug on the drain. "Skyler, who was at the door?"

The door banged open and Skyler shoved her way into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. On the floor Thea toppled over.

"What's going on?" Rosen asked. "Who was at the door?"

"Shh," Skyler said, and she crouched down a bit awkwardly. "Get down."

Confused, Rosen did as he was told.

Skyler reached into Thea's duffel bag, which was still sitting on the floor, and pulled out a small video monitor. She flicked it on, staring intently at the feed. "This is from a camera mounted over your front door," she informed Rosen.

"When did you put a camera over my front door?" Rosen asked.

"Who said I did it?" She tipped the video monitor towards him. "I don't know them. Do you?"

There in black and white were two thuggish-looking men, standing on Rosen's front stoop. One was wearing a leather jacket; the other had on a windbreaker. As though following some sort of strange movie-style thug code, they both wore stocking caps.

"We don't know who they are," Rosen said. "And in my experience, bad guys don't usually ring the doorbell."

Skyler flicked the touch screen and scrolled to another feed. "This feed is from a camera mounted outside your back door."

She showed him the back porch area, which was lit with a spotlight. The yard behind it was cloaked mostly in shadows, but there was definitely something moving back and forth in the darkness.

"And this one is from the side yard on the west," she continued, showing him what looked like an infrared feed that clearly displayed two more thuggish men crouching in his shrubs. They both had guns. "And this is from the east. That's two more guns, in case you're keeping track."

Rosen looked over at Thea. The girl had gone strangely calm, and sat with her legs crossed, rocking back and forth. "We have to get out of here," he said.

The doorbell rang again.

_If we were mermaids we could swim away_, Thea thought.

"The window," Rosen said, pointing to the bathroom's window, which was mounted over the tub.

"The window," Skyler repeated. "Who among us, exactly, is going to fit out that window?"

With one hand she indicated Thea, still rocking and humming, and then herself, still skinny as ever except for her swollen belly.

Rosen considered the window again. It _was_ a little small.

"You know, some ladies would be offended about having to do all the heavy lifting in a relationship," Skyler said, giving Rosen a sly look. From the duffel bag she retrieved four more of her creations, hand-sized metal insects with fearsome-looking sharp legs. "How about you open that small window? At least it'll be good for something."

In an awkward half-crouch, Rosen moved towards the window. He undid the latch and hesitantly shoved it outwards.

The metal bugs rose from Skyler's hand and flew in formation out the window. Rosen slammed it shut, and returned to his position on the bathroom floor.

"And now?" he asked.

"And now… and now we wait," Skyler said, picking up the video screen.

_If I was a mermaid I could hold my breath forever_, Thea thought. _It would be a little like this…_

She was so busy holding her breath that she didn't realize she'd passed out until her helmet slammed against the tile floor.

And by then it didn't matter much anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Enjoy! And remember, reviews are love!

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><p>When Thea hit the floor, Skylar and Rosen jumped. The screen in Skylar's hands tumbled to the floor. Rosen hurried to pull the girl upright, unclipping her helmet. "Thea?" he said quietly, tapping her cheek with his fingers. "Thea, are you all right?"<p>

Her eyes rolled upwards and she lolled appallingly, much like a floppy rag doll.

Skylar picked up the screen and continued scrolling through the images now being transmitted from the bugs' on-board cameras. "They're getting impatient," she whispered to Rosen.

"And here we sit in the bathroom," Rosen said, because he was at a loss to say anything smarter.

She shrugged and kept scrolling.

"Wait a second," Rosen said, and he gently lowered Thea to the bathroom floor. He reached into his pants pocket and retrieved his cell phone. "We can call the cavalry."

He dialed Bill. "I need you to call the others," he said, keeping his voice low. "Get them over to the house."

"Sure," Bill said. "What's going on?"

"We're being ambushed."

"Does this have something to do with Skylar and that girl she brought to the office today?"

"More than I can explain to you at the present time," Rosen said. "And please don't go light on the fire-power."

"Sure thing," Bill said, and disconnected.

Thea groaned and tried to pick her head up from the floor. But as though it was too heavy for her to lift, she slumped back to the floor.

"I wonder…" Skylar said, and then shook her head. "No."

"What?" Rosen asked.

Skylar set the screen on the rug next to her. "Help me sit her up."

Rosen obligingly scooped Thea up and positioned her in his lap. She flopped back against his body. "Now what?"

Skylar brought Thea's head up. "Thea," she said. "Thea, I want you to…"

Before she could finish, Thea's head snapped up and she made eye contact with Skylar.

The air in the bathroom got heavy and hot, and Rosen felt as though he was holding onto a live electrical wire. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew enough to grab Thea and shake her, breaking the girl's eye contact with Skylar.

Skylar was breathing hard as Thea's contact was broken, but she was smiling. "Good," she said after a moment. "Means we've still got a chance or two."

* * *

><p>Rosen stooped below the windows as he walked through the living room, carrying Thea in his arms. "Are you ready?" he whispered.<p>

"Huh," Thea grunted.

"On the count of three, then," Rosen said.

According to Skylar's screen, there was only one thug on the front porch. His cohort had gone around the back to check in with the others, leaving only one charming ski-capped fellow to ring the doorbell.

As Rosen got closer to the door, he called out, "Just a minute!"

He grabbed a footstool from the living room and dragged it into the hallway before the door, then set Thea upright on the stool. "Okay," he said, steeling himself for the most difficult part of the mission.

The doorbell rang again.

Rosen made a big show of undoing the locks as loudly and slowly as he could. "Just a minute!" he said again. Under his breath, he said, "One…"

Thea planted her feet on the floor. She looked far too innocent and clueless in her pink footie pajamas printed with stars, but there was some sort of resolve in her eyes, and Rosen knew she understood what was about to happen.

"… two…"

He undid the last lock.

"… _three!"_

Rosen opened the door and yanked it open, ducking behind it as it opened. He held his breath.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" he heard the thug ask as the bulky man stepped into the hallway. "You're not…"

Thea's head went up and her eyes found the thug's. Rosen felt the change crackle through the air and he closed his own eyes.

A strangled "guhh" echoed from the thug's throat.

The room was spinning. Rosen gripped the doorknob as tightly as he could.

"_Ughh_… _guhh_," the thug managed, and then there was a sickening _thud_ as the man fell into the foyer. Instantly the atmosphere changed.

Rosen opened his eyes and hurried to slam the door, throwing the locks as he did.

The scene in the foyer was worse than he had imagined. There was the windbreaker-wearing thug, stocking cap still firmly in place as he lay sprawled on the floor like some sort of beached whale. Blood was running from his ears.

On the stool, Thea was breathing heavily. Her face was white, and she rocked back and forth with her hands over her ears. "Uhhhhh," she moaned, and then began to slap the sides of her head.

Rosen picked her up and hurried back to the bathroom. As he ran, the cell phone in his pocket started ringing. And from outside came a cacophony of noise – what sounded like trash cans being thrown against Rosen's garage, several low yells, and two gunshots, one right after the other.

Rosen got Thea back into the bathroom. Skylar was waiting with the girl's helmet, which she slid over Thea's head and clicked into place. "How'd it go?" Skylar asked.

"One bad guy down," Rosen said. He grabbed his phone. "Hello?"

"We're here," Cameron said shortly. "You had a regular army out here."

"I'll come let you in," Rosen said.

"Give it a minute," Cameron said. "Nina's Pushing this last guy to see if we can figure out who sent them."

Rosen helped Skylar up. Skylar opened the bathroom window and held out her hand. One by one, the metal bugs flew through the window. She put each back into the duffel bag, and then switched off the screen and put that away as well.

"Doctor?" came a voice from the hallway.

Bill was in the hallway, weapon drawn. Rachel was kneeling next to the man on the floor. "What happened to this guy?" Bill asked.

Rachel leaned over the man, looking intently at something behind his ear. "He's got a tattoo here," she said after a moment. "It looks Greek, but I don't recognize it. Gary will know what it is. The tattoo ink is some sort of homemade compound, too. A different kind of pigment."

Then she, too, looked up at Rosen. "What happened?"

"Thea," Rosen said, at a loss for more to say.

Rachel and Bill looked over at Thea. The tiny girl was huddled in the doorway of the bathroom, her hands slapping her helmet rhythmically and strongly, rocking back and forth, a sort of painful, pitched cry emitting from her mouth.

"Damn," Rachel said.

"Are you sure, Dr. Rosen?" Bill asked, looking a bit skeptical.

"I'd let her do it to you to prove the point, but you wouldn't like it much," Skylar said. "A lot of bleeding and brain mushing, and not a lot of coming back alive."

"Damn," Rachel repeated.

"We need to get you out of here," Cameron said as he and Nina appeared in the doorway behind Rachel and Bill. "You're not safe here anymore, Dr. Rosen. These guys had some serious weaponry on them."

"Who sent them?" Rosen asked Nina.

"The guy I Pushed only knew the name of the guy who gave them the assignment – Mack Richardson. They didn't know who Mack worked for, just that he wanted the guys to come here and take out a doctor."

"Call Gary and give him the name," Rosen said to Nina. "And take a picture of that gentleman's tattoo and send it along."

"Sure," Nina said, and took out her cell phone.

"You'll be safer at the office," Cameron said, taking up his original topic of conversation. "But not here. If they can find you here…"

"We wouldn't be all that safer at the office," Rosen said.

"Then you have to go somewhere else," Cameron said. "At least until we know who sent these guys after you."

"They came for Thea," Skylar said. "And they're going to find her wherever she is."

"What do they want with her, Skylar?" Rosen asked.

Skylar swallowed, and looked at her feet.

"Skylar," Rosen said quietly.

"I've told you all I know."

"I don't think you have," Nina said, and she took a step closer to Skylar.

"You can't Push me," Skylar said to Nina.

"I'm not even going to try," Nina said. "You know all my tricks."

She looked over at Thea, still huddled in the doorway. "But _she_ doesn't."

"You can't Push her," Skylar said.

"Watch me," Nina said, and strode across the room to Thea.

"Do you see that guy on the floor?" Skylar called after her, louder, her tone sarcastic and hard. "She turned his brain into applesauce. Hope you've enjoyed your last thoughts."

Rosen's cell phone rang; "Gary" came up on the screen. "Gary, what've you got?"

"Um, the tattoo belongs to a pseudo-religious semi-militant group called the Hand of Justice," Gary said. "They work closely with several militant or government-affiliated groups, including…"

"Including Red Flag," Rosen said.

"Yes, Dr. Rosen, including Red Flag. There is no information on Mack Richardson, other than his name, which is a fake. There are no Social Security records, birth certificates, driver's licenses, or other government documentation on anyone named Mack Richardson."

"Thanks, Gary." Rosen hung up.

Nina crouched before Thea. "Can I take her helmet off?" she asked the room at large.

"I wouldn't try," Skylar said.

"Dr. Rosen?" Nina looked over at him.

"If you think you might be able to get her to tell us something that would help," Rosen said. "But please don't hurt her, Nina."

"I'm not going to hurt her," Nina said dismissively, and she leaned in to remove Thea's helmet. She set it on the floor in the hallway.

"Thea, close your eyes," Nina said.

The girl leaned forward, trying to grab onto Nina's arms. Gently Nina pinned Thea's arms to her body. "Thea, close your eyes," Nina repeated.

Thea fought the Push, mewing and struggling against Nina, turning her head back and forth in attempt to resist. "Huhhhh."

"Close your eyes," Nina said, a little more firmly.

Breathing heavily, Thea rocked backwards, trying to get to her feet. "Huh. Ha! Ahh, ahhh."

Nina held her arms tighter.

Thea squealed and then started to sob.

"Close your eyes," Nina said again.

As though all fight had left her body, Thea slumped to the floor again, her eyes closed.

"Good girl," Nina said. "Now, I want you to tell me…"

In a last-ditch effort, Thea ripped her arms away from Nina, howled, and threw herself backwards, banging her forehead into the bathroom door. The girl flailed her arms in the air as though to fight off an invisible attacker, and grabbed the edge of the door. She reached up for the doorknob, fell backwards, and the door slammed, with Thea in the bathroom and Nina on her heels in the hallway.

"Well, that went just _swimmingly_," Skylar said sarcastically. "Score one for the magic Push."

"Give her a break," Rosen said mildly. "Thea isn't the usual type of person Nina tries to Push."

To the rest of the group, he said, "I'm going to put on some coffee, because I think I deserve some after all this. I'll be in the kitchen."

Skylar followed him. After a moment, Bill, Cameron, and Rachel did as well, Bill closing the front door and locking it.

Nina tried the bathroom door. It didn't move, as though Thea's full weight was against it from the inside. "I'll be back," she said to the closed door. "_We'll_ be back, Thea."

There was no answer, and so she got to her feet and headed for the kitchen. Damn it, she deserved some coffee too.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I hope you enjoy this chapter. Remember, reviews are love!

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><p>"What's the plan?" Nina asked as she joined the others in the kitchen.<p>

"We've got to get you out of here, Dr. Rosen," Bill said. "As soon as those guys realize that one of their own was… um… dealt with… they'll probably come to retaliate."

"Well, then we have a couple of options," Rosen said. "The office is one."

"I don't know how long you would be able to stay there," Rachel said.

"All right, then we'll…"

Before Rosen could finish his sentence, loud screams started emanating from the bathroom. As they had when Rosen had first come upon Thea, the screams were long and loud, and Thea only paused momentarily to suck in a little bit of air before continuing to scream.

"Then we might have to look elsewhere," Rosen said, louder. "To _go_ elsewhere."

"She's upset," Skylar muttered.

Rachel poured the coffee. "There are a couple of options, then," she said, raising her voice just as Rosen had.

Cameron nodded. "Safe house in Cranston."

"This group, this Hand of Justice," Nina said. "Why do they want Thea?"

Rosen shrugged and looked over at Skylar. Skylar was leaning against the counter, her eyes closed. She looked pale and one hand was distractedly rubbing her belly. "Been trying to figure that out all day," he said quietly.

In the bathroom, Thea screamed on.

"We need to do more research," Rosen went on.

"But you need to do it in a safe place," Cameron countered.

"So we pack the three of you and Gary up, take you up to Cranston, and then what?" Rachel asked, refilling her coffee cup.

"And then…?" Rosen shrugged, lifting his coffee cup in a noncommittal salute.

"And we'll take it from there," Bill said.

The screaming got louder, and then it was punctuated by loud, vicious _thump_s. The bathroom door rattled.

"She's got the helmet on," Nina said before anyone could go running.

Scream. _Thunk_. Scream. _Thunk_. Scream. _Thunk_.

"Wait a minute," Rosen said, putting his coffee cup on the counter. "Nina, what was the name of that Alpha professor down at Columbia?"

The group thought for a minute. "It's not the guy who calls himself Skillet, is it?" Bill asked.

"No, that was his teaching assistant."

"Oh, then it's Professor Duncan," Bill said. "They always sounded like some sort of terrible _emo_ band – Professor Duncan and the Skillet."

"We've got to go to him," Rosen said.

"Columbia's pretty far away," Cameron said. "Any reason?"

"Do you remember what Duncan's area of research was?" Rosen asked.

"No, but I do remember that Skillet was really into skinny jeans and scarves," Bill said.

"I've never understood the whole scarf-indoors thing," Cameron said.

"I know! It's like, it's not cold in here, what's with the scarf?" Rachel agreed.

"Gang – back to Professor Duncan," Rosen said.

Scream. _Thunk_. Scream. _Thunk_.

"Um, it was some sort of brain research," Nina offered.

"Specifically, it was vegetative state brain research," Rosen said. "Duncan was positing the theory that patients in vegetative states could communicate through their brain waves or their eye-blinks."

"How's he going to break this all wide open?" Bill asked.

"Well, I think there's somebody in that bathroom who probably has a lot to tell us, but the connection between her mouth and her brain seems to be severed," Rosen said. "Maybe Duncan could make her a little more conversational."

He put his coffee cup in the sink. "And, if that fails, do you remember Skillet's dad?"

"A New York City cop and a gun collector, if my memory serves me," Rachel said, smiling. "You're all right, Dr. Rosen. You're all right."

* * *

><p>"The seat tilts back," Rosen said to Skylar.<p>

"I assumed it did," Skylar said. "It's a regular car seat."

"I'm just saying," Rosen said. "You look tired."

"This is so exciting," Gary said from the backseat. "I have not been on a road trip ever, although I have seen many films about road trips. Will we be experiencing hijinks and calling each other 'dude'?"

"Um, I'm not sure, Gary," Rosen said, looking into the rearview mirror. "Do you want to call someone 'dude'?"

Gary thought about this. "No," he said after a moment. "No, I do not like the idea of being called 'dude.'"

"Then I guess we're all right," Rosen said.

"Also, I am uninterested in driving over the speed limit or inhabiting a vehicle that is driven over the speed limit, imbibing large quantities of alcohol, smoking anything, or taunting public service officials such as law enforcement officers," Gary went on.

"Well, I don't plan on having any of that happen," Rosen said.

"Also, I would prefer not to be kissed by scantily clad ladies," Gary said.

"What kind of movies have you been watching, Gary?" Skylar asked.

"There was _Road Trip_, _Road Trip II, Road Trip III, _and also _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_ and _Road Tales_," Gary said. "Among others."

"Gary, can you do me a favor?" Rosen said as he signaled for the on-ramp.

"Yes, Dr. Rosen."

"Lean back and take Thea's pulse for me, please."

"Yes, Dr. Rosen." Gary shifted in his seat and turned around. Thea was strapped into her car harness, helmeted head hanging down towards her chest, body floppy like a ragdoll. "These are some bad meds, Dr. Rosen," Gary said as he placed his fingers on Thea's carotid pulse.

"They were the right kind for the job, Gary," Rosen said.

"Her pulse is fifty-six, Dr. Rosen," Gary said.

"Okay. Good man. Now put your seatbelt on," Rosen said.

"Never knew you to be the drugging type of doctor," Skylar said as Gary clicked his seatbelt back into place.

"That's because I'm not," Rosen said. "But Thea had been screaming for two and a half hours, and there was no way I was driving to Columbia with that kind of distraction. Just listening to her made my head hurt. Plus, I really didn't have any use for those leftover Percocets. I'm only going to have my wisdom teeth extracted once."

"You could lose your license," Skylar said.

"Dr. Rosen, are you going to lose your license?" Gary asked, alarmed.

"No, Gary," Rosen said.

"But Skylar said…"

"She was mistaken."

"Good. Because we have a therapy session on Monday morning at…"

"Yes, Gary, I know," Rosen said.

Gary leaned back.

"Gary, while we drive, I'd like you to find out everything you can about the Hand of Justice," Rosen said.

"Okay."

"And what would you like me to do?" Skylar asked, although she sounded sardonic.

"I want you to sleep," Rosen said. "And I'm being serious."

She looked as though she was going to fight, but the dark circles under her eyes crinkled into a smile eventually. "Fine," she said. "Just for a little while."

"Thea's fine, Gary's fine, I'm fine," Rosen said. "Nothing to worry about."

"Dr. Rosen, if that were true, we wouldn't be barreling down the freeway with a brain-melting Alpha strapped into the trunk of the station wagon, an Internet-streaming autistic in the backseat, and a pregnant techno geek in the front, heading towards the only scientist I've ever met who combines brain research and lunch box collecting so beautifully, who will doubtlessly be accompanied by his hipster teaching assistant and, unless they've broken up, the teaching assistant's way-too-skinny girlfriend, who has never had an opinion of her own." And with that, Skylar yawned, tilted the car seat back, and curled away from Rosen.

There was silence for a bit, and then Gary giggled.

"What's so funny, Gary?" Rosen asked.

"There's a new _Fox Trot_ cartoon out," Gary said. "And also, I really like Professor Duncan's lunch box collection. He has two thousand, nine hundred and fifty-six, or he did last time I saw him. Professor Duncan thinks I'm brilliant."

"Gary, we all think you're brilliant," Rosen said.

"It's different with Professor Duncan," Gary said, but he did not elaborate.

Rosen changed lanes, and then settled back into the right lane.

"Dr. Rosen?"

"Yeah, Gary?"

"Do you think Skylar is my friend?"

The question threw Rosen. "Um, well, what do you think, Gary?"

"Well, I don't know if she's my friend, but I'm her friend," Gary said. "And her Zoe. And her baby. They are also my friends."

"I'm sure she'd be really happy to hear you say that," Rosen said.

"No, she'd probably punch me," Gary said, twitching fingers still streaming. "That is why I am telling you instead."

"You're a good egg, Gary."

"I am not actually an egg," Gary said. "But I understand that you are giving me a compliment, Dr. Rosen."

He sighed contentedly. "And Thea, Dr. Rosen."

"What about Thea?"

"Thea is also my friend," Gary said. "Even though I don't think she knows what 'friend' means."

"Some people would say that's the best kind of friend," Rosen said.

"I have many friends, Dr. Rosen," Gary said.

"You sure do," Rosen said.

Gary went quiet, and Rosen drove on into the darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Sorry it's been so long. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

><p>"Oh, yeah, yeah, totally doable!" Ian Duncan enthused, running his hands through his shock of blond hair. "Yeah, yeah! We'll get it set up! Skillet, get me the Wave!"<p>

"The Wave," a tall, scarf-wearing man in the back of the room said in a monotone voice.

"He hasn't gotten any happier, has he?" Rosen said.

"His new antidepressants aren't working," Duncan whispered, leaning in towards the psychiatrist with a smile. "But don't tell anyone."

"I won't tell anyone," Gary repeated in a loud voice.

"So, what's the government secrets we're prying into this time?" Duncan asked, bouncing away from the group and towards the computer system set up in the corner of his office.

"Whatever's in there," Skylar said, and pointed to Thea.

Thea had her arms hooked over the side of Duncan's desk and was flinging herself back and forth rapidly. "_Ha! Ha! Heee!"_

"Oh," Duncan said, and stopped abruptly. "Well, that may be a problem."

"You said 'totally doable,'" Rosen reminded him.

"Well, sure, before you told me…" Duncan gestured towards Thea.

"You usually work with people in _comas_," Skylar pointed out.

"Persistent vegetative states, my dear, and there _is_ a difference," Duncan said.

"Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades," Gary offered from the side of the room, where he was fiddling with a Rubik's Cube from Duncan's desk. "Although I do not understand how those two are related."

"What's the problem?" Rosen wanted to know.

"She's… she's able to resist," Duncan said. "Honestly, you know that my research focuses on individuals who are in the most extreme state of passivity. Somebody like…"

"Thea," Rosen supplied.

"Like Thea, who's with-it enough to know what's going on… she might fight me."

"And?" Skylar asked.

"And – and what, my dear?" Duncan said. "I am not a ninja. I am not in the business of fighting for information."

"Well, buck up," Skylar said. "We need to know what's going on in there."

"You could just give her some of the bad medication," Gary said, his fingers flying over the Rubik's Cube.

"Oh, Gary, no," Rosen said hurriedly.

"The Wave," Skillet announced in his monotone voice as he returned to the office carrying a large cardboard box.

"Set it up over there," Duncan said, waving his hand at a table in the back of the room. "You know, Gary, that's not a bad idea."

"Of course it is a bad idea," Gary said, clicking the last part of the Rubik's Cube into place. "But sometimes bad things outweigh good things."

"Like a modern day philosopher, this one," Duncan said, shaking his head.

"Thea doesn't need any medicine, Gary," Rosen said. "She'll sit still for you to run the communication program, Duncan."

"She would sit still with the bad medicine," Gary muttered.

"We'll give it a shot," Duncan said, running his hands through his hair again.

"_Ha! Ha!"_ Thea squealed. "_Hee!"_

"We'll give it a shot," Duncan repeated, but he didn't sound quite convinced.

Ten minutes later Rosen sat in an armchair next to Duncan's desk. Thea was in his lap, her helmet off. A blue pilot's cap had been pulled over her head, and wires spiraled out of the cap in every direction. The wires led back to the Wave simulator, and the Wave simulator was hooked up to Duncan's plasma-screen monitor.

"Okay, Skillet, give it a go," Duncan said.

"Giving it a go," Skillet said in his monotone voice. He tapped a few commands into the computer.

"We'll start with some easy questions to set the conversation parameters," Duncan said. "Please tell me your name."

"Gary," Gary said from the side of the room.

"No, Gary, shhh," Skylar said, her eyes rapt on the screen.

Thea tilted her head to one side. "_Hmmm?"_ she said to Rosen.

"You can do it," Rosen said gently.

Thea flicked one hand up towards her mouth. "_Hmmm_."

"Please tell me your name," Duncan repeated.

The screen blinked blue, and then a cursor appeared.

"Good, good, she found the cursor," Rosen whispered.

Slowly the cursor moved, spelling out words letter-by-letter. Thea's lips twitched.

Duncan was watching the screen. "I think there's a program mistake, Skillet."

"No mistake, Professor," Skillet said, looking at the output screen on the Wave simulator.

"But she spelled out 'Hey, hey, we're the Monkees,'" Duncan said, pointing to the screen.

Thea's lips twitched. "_Heeee!" _she breathed.

"Quit messing around," Rosen said. "Just do as the professor asks, please."

But the cursor was flying now: "Hey, hey we're the Monkees and people say we monkey around."

"Thea," Skylar said.

"But we're too busy singing to put anybody down," the cursor informed the room.

Thea doubled over in Rosen's lap, breathing in and out so quickly that it sounded like laughter.

"Knock it off," Rosen said affably. "Try something else, Duncan."

"I wouldn't call that one a resounding success," Duncan said, pulling at his earlobes, "but she found the cursor and she spelled something, which is more than I can say for some of my patients."

"She spelled out the lyrics to a TV theme song!" Skylar said.

"Would you have preferred gibberish?" Duncan asked. "At least from here we've got somewhere to go."

He studied the screen. "Who likes the Monkees?" he asked loudly.

Thea sat upright, the wires jiggling around. She focused hard on the window.

"Who likes the Monkees?" the professor repeated.

"Thea likes the Monkees," the cursor typed.

"A-_ha!"_ Duncan said, and leapt off his desk. "There we go!"

He strode towards the screen. "Thea, tell us where you are from."

"Thea loves the Monkees," the cursor typed.

"Thea, tell us where you are from," Duncan said.

Instead of obeying his commands, the cursor jerked up to the top of the page.

"Skillet, are you messing around with the settings?" Duncan asked.

"No, Professor."

The cursor blinked over to the "applications" tab and, as quick as a wink, pulled open the Internet browser.

"Holy shit," Duncan said. "I'm sorry, Gary."

"Occasionally profanity is warranted," Gary said, shrugging.

"She's… what is she doing?" Duncan strode towards the screen, waving his hands.

The Internet browser clicked over to YouTube.

"Thea, just tell the professor where you're from," Rosen groaned.

The cursor clicked into the YouTube search box and typed "Monkees."

"Dig the Monkees," Skillet opined.

"Thea, _please_," Rosen said. "Just…"

The search was executed, and the cursor clicked on the first video that came up. Sure enough, there were the Monkees.

Thea squealed with laughter.

"Close it, Skillet," Duncan said.

"Closing it," Skillet repeated.

The program returned to the blank screen with the cursor blinking.

Thea let out a protracted sigh and swung her head towards Duncan.

"Close your eyes!" Rosen hollered.

"What? Why?" Duncan asked.

"Just…"

The professor got his eyes closed. Thea gave him a beatific smile and typed: "Albany."

"We're safe," Rosen said.

"Albany," Duncan said, opening his eyes. "You're from Albany?"

"Albany," the cursor repeated.

"Did you ever live anywhere else?"

"Albany. Canada. Albany. Toronto. Albany," the cursor spelled. "Rotterdamn. Hanoi. Monkees."

"I think she might be messing with us," Skillet observed.

"No, I think it might mean something," Duncan said. "At least, I did until she typed 'Monkees.'"

"You have to admit, Davy Jones is hard to stop thinking about," Gary said.

"Thea, where are your parents?" Duncan asked.

"Albany. Albany. Albany."

"Thea, what is the capital of the United States?"

"Albany. Albany. Albany."

"I think she's stuck, sir," Skillet said.

"Albany. Albany. Washington, D.C."

"Not stuck, just on a delay," Duncan said, rubbing his hands together. "Excellent."

After checking the Wave machine's output, he turned back to Rosen. "Ask away, good doctor."

"Thea, why did Skylar bring you to see me?"

"Washington, D.C. Screaming. Car. Boom." Thea rolled her eyes towards the ceiling as though looking at the hat she wore. "Boom. Boom. Boom."

She flapped a hand at the ceiling. "Baby. Boom. Baby. Boom. Cry."

"Did anyone come to see you at your foster home?"

"Boom. Cry. Boom. Cry. Cry. Cry. Sad. Angry. Angry. Angry."

"Someone angry came to see you," Rosen intuited. "Was it a man or a woman?"

"Angry. Angry. Angry. Man."

Rosen looked over at Skylar. "Is that true?" he asked.

Before Skylar could answer, more words flickered up on the screen. "Man. Angry. Man. Angry."

"If she says it is," Skylar said.

"Angry. Red."

"I thought you said she was blind," Duncan said slowly.

"She's legally blind," Skylar said. "But that's a minor technicality."

"Can she see color?" Rosen asked.

"I don't know," Skylar admitted.

"Red. Man. Angry. Angry," the cursor typed.

Thea let out a long sigh, and flicked her hands at her ears. "All. Done," the cursor typed.

"You've done quite well," Duncan said as he came forward to remove the wired cap. "We can try again later."

Thea's words remained on the screen, and even after she had broken free from his embrace and was crawling happily around on the floor, Rosen's eyes were still glued to what she had typed. "Red. Man. Angry."

It seemed that Thea's enemies and Rosen's worst fears had just collided, typed larger than life on a screen scrolling comments about the Monkees. It seemed ridiculous, but at the same time…

… it felt oddly right.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Reviews are love! Enjoy!

* * *

><p>After all of the computer equipment was put away, Duncan invited the group back to his house for dinner. "It won't be much, just some burgers on the grill. I've just got to get out of here. I'm giving an exam on Monday and if I don't leave now, I'll have to deal with a group of panicking undergrads with a series of last-minute questions."<p>

"Who answers the questions if you're not here?" Gary asked.

"I like to think that they find their own answers," Duncan said.

"Not always," Skillet said under his breath.

"And if they don't, I just whip out that red grading pen and…" Duncan made a series of Zorro-esque slashing motions in the air with the pen.

"That would be great," Rosen said.

"I'm just going to lock up," Duncan said. "Skillet, will you go close the computer lab and the supply closet?"

"Closing the lab and the supply closet," Skillet said, and headed off down the hall.

Rosen and Gary walked down the hall in the opposite direction towards the student lounge where Thea and Skylar had been hanging out while the professor put away his equipment. Skylar was seated in a big armchair, and Thea was squirreling around on the floor, whipping her helmeted head back and forth.

"We're headed back to the professor's house for dinner," Rosen said to Skylar.

"Okay," she said, and, with one hand to her belly, tried to get out of the armchair. "Gary, a little help?"

"Yeah," Gary said, and grabbed her hands, pulling her upright.

"Thanks. I'm going to the bathroom before we leave," Skylar said.

"Me too," Gary said. "A different bathroom, though."

"Shoot, I forgot my briefcase," Duncan said. "I'll have to go back to my office to get it."

Rosen's phone rang in his pocket. "Hello?"

Static on the line. He put one finger to his ear, and repeated his query louder. "Hello?"

The signal seemed to get better as he moved towards the hallway, so he followed it. "Hello?"

On the floor, Thea's head popped up as though she was a prairie dog, sniffing the air for intruders.

They were all gone.

She crawled forward, to the big armchair, and pulled herself upright with its support. For another moment she turned her head back and forth, the heavy face mask whipping through the air.

Then she took a tentative step forward, holding her hands out. Six steps and she found the wall with her hands. Two more steps and there was the door. Thea tilted her head and listened, though for what she could not properly articulate.

There it was – the humming. She'd heard it the first time the cap with all the wires had been on her head. It was low in the back of her head, reverberating to a Monkees song. The presence of the computer and the cursor and everyone in the room had been too much for Thea; she hadn't been able to pay proper attention to it.

But now she was alone.

With one hand trailing along the wall, Thea strolled leisurely towards the humming. Around her classrooms emptied out, professors tacked up notices, and a janitor pushed a mop bucket towards a bathroom.

She wasn't sure how she was escaping the notice of all of these people; she couldn't see them but she could surely feel them and hear them.

But she moved on, still following the hypnotic beats of the humming.

"Hmmm…"

Her mitted hand hit a doorframe and she stumbled forward. Her helmet slammed against the far wall and the banging in her head brought her to her knees.

The humming got louder.

Thea pushed herself to her knees and struggled to get back on her feet. Her breathing was coming in little gasps now; the humming was threatening to replace her heartbeat and every single thought in her head. "Huh! Huh! Ha!"

Her chest hurt. Her head hurt.

"Huh."

The humming was no longer a Monkees song; it was something far bigger and far more sinister.

_Shouldn't have left_, Thea thought quickly, trying to turn around. Her helmet whacked the wall again and she sank to her knees. _Should have stayed there._

A heavy hand gripped her arm painfully, and Thea almost relaxed, thinking it was the professor or Skillet.

But then a voice broke into her spinning, whirling thoughts. "Well, well, well. And I thought I'd seen the last of you, baby girl."

* * *

><p>Gary exited the men's restroom and walked over to Dr. Rosen, who was talking on his cell phone. "Yeah. Thanks, Nina. We'll be on the way there soon. Okay. Yeah. Bye."<p>

Rosen hung up. "How was the bathroom?" he asked Gary.

"Well-appointed," Gary replied. "Four stalls, one of which was handicap-accessible. Three sinks. Three soap dispensers. One paper towel dispenser. One garbage can."

"Glad to know it met your standards," Rosen said.

For the first time he seemed to realize they were alone. "Gary, where's Thea?"

"She was on the floor in the room with the big chairs," Gary said.

Panic gripped Rosen's heart, and he shoved his cell phone into his pocket, turned around, and ran back towards the room where Skylar and Thea had been sitting.

Empty.

"Let's get out of here," Duncan said from behind him. "I hear a beer or two calling my name."

Rosen turned. "Have you seen Thea?"

"I thought she was with you," Duncan said.

Skillet and Skylar appeared. Rosen hurried over to them. "Is Thea with you?"

"No, she was just…" Skylar looked at the empty room. "Damn it."

"Spread out!" Rosen ordered. "We have to find her!"

… _before they do_, his head finished the statement. It didn't matter that he wasn't quite sure who "they" were.

Duncan took the professors' offices and the adjoining hallway. Skillet went back to look in the computer labs. Gary went from classroom to classroom as Skylar checked the bathrooms. Rosen hurried up and down the halls, calling Thea's name. "Thea!"

The tiny girl was such a solid presence – how could she just _disappear?_

_She couldn't_, Rosen's head informed him.

"Hey," a voice said from behind him. "Hey, mister."

Rosen turned around to see a janitor with a mop bucket. "Yes?"

"Are you looking for that little girl? The one with the helmet?" The janitor was a big, well-built man in a navy uniform, gripping the mop as though it was a bayonet.

"Yes. How did you…?"

The janitor shrugged. "I'm good at reading people."

"Yes, she's with me. Have you seen her?"

"Yeah," the janitor said. "She left with that other professor guy. She didn't seem real happy to see him, though; fought him all the way out of here. What, is he like the mean one?"

"What other professor?" Rosen asked.

"Well, I figured he was a professor," the janitor said. "He had that… that hairstyle you guys all favor."

"What did he look like?" Rosen demanded.

"Um, like early thirties, brown hair. Brown pants, brown shoes, red windbreaker."

_They couldn't be __that__ obvious_, Rosen thought.

"He dragged her off towards the faculty parking lot," the janitor continued.

"And where's that?" Rosen asked.

"Out behind the building." The janitor pointed.

Rosen shoved through the double doors leading to the stairwell, going down the steps as fast as he could. He wasn't sure what he was hoping to find – Thea had been gone long enough for any savvy government agency to make her invisible. Or, at least, get her to Hackensack.

The faculty parking lot seemed to confirm this theory. Rosen stood at the edge, looking at the three cars in the middle of the lot. No Thea. And no government goon in a red windbreaker.

Duncan and Skillet walked up, with Gary and Skylar behind them. "Pete said you were out here," Duncan said. "No luck, huh?"

"No," Rosen said.

"Well, I might have one piece of good luck," Skillet said, and for the first time he sounded a little enthused about something.

"What?" Rosen asked.

"When Thea was using the computer system, I was having some trouble coordinating all of the separate leads," Skillet said. "So I put a condensing magnet bracelet on her. It makes the leads work as one, which is super-helpful when you're trying to redact the…"

"Cut to the chase, Skillet," Duncan said.

"Cutting to the chase," Skillet said. "Thea still has the bracelet on."

For a moment no one said anything.

"And how does this help us?" Duncan wanted to know.

"Well, our man Gary here's got the magic fingertips," Skillet said. "The magnet's got a specific signal in it, developed so it won't interact with any medical equipment when we use it at a hospital. It's different from any other signal out there, including cell phones and radios… or any scrambling device."

A beat, and then Rosen said, "Gary?"

"Looking," Gary said.

"Get in the car," Duncan said, pointing to his minivan in the parking lot.

They moved as one to the van and clambered into it – Duncan in the driver's seat, Gary as the passenger, Skillet and Skylar in the captain's chairs, Rosen hanging on for dear life on the bench seat as Duncan put the van into gear and peeled out of the faculty parking lot.

"Find her, Gary," Rosen whispered. "Find her, _please_."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **So here's all the news that's fit to include: 10 weeks on-call 24/7; broken computer; moved twice; new job; no Internet; new computer, Internet. New chapter! Hurray!

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"<em>This<em> is who we've been chasing all over the tri-state area?"

"Shut up."

"I was just expecting someone more… threatening."

"Listen, you ass, do you want me to take her helmet off and let her lock eyes with you? Be the last dumb-ass thing you ever did."

"Oh, no, I believe you. I saw that baby after the autopsy."

"Then what are you being such a punk about?"

"I just… I thought she was… bigger."

"Bigger than _what?"_

"Than a skinny, knobby-kneed freak in a hockey helmet!"

Thea stuck one mitted hand up to her helmet's face mask. She wiggled at the mask, fidgeted with the strap holding the helmet to her head. Her wiry fingers couldn't pinch the clip through the canvas.

"We take her to them, we get paid, she can get out of our lives."

There were two men in the van. It was a big van; Thea could tell that by listening to the van as it went over the potholes in the road. She was on the floor of the big van, sprawled out like a snow angel. They'd strapped her feet down, and put a thick strap across her middle, but her hands were free.

_Stupid_.

Thea shoved the helmet up. It banged against her chin and she breathed out, frustrated.

"You don't care what they're going to do to her?"

"Does it look like I care?"

"Looks like you're driving."

"Nobel Prize for the asshole in the passenger seat!"

"I don't know why I work with you."

"It's because you're my wife's cousin and she feels bad for you because your IQ is in the low double digits."

"Only part of that is true!"

Thea twisted to one side to see what was holding the straps to the floor. A D-ring and a piece of Velcro. She pinched one mitt up so that the canvas was stretched tightly over her fingertips. She listened to the noises of the traffic passing the van, and as the van went over another pothole she grabbed the Velcro and pulled. The noise of the Velcro ripping apart was drowned out by the van's clanking.

"So your IQ isn't 57?"

"I've never had it tested."

The D-ring slid free from the Velcro. The strap across Thea's middle loosened, and she tugged it off. She held her breath as she rolled to one side, closer to the D-ring mounted to the floor. With her helmet right up against the D-ring bracket, she still couldn't see it, but she could feel it. She held it steady with one mitted hand, then twisted and jerked it around, looking for the D-ring's open side.

_There!_

Where the curve of the D-ring met the straight side, the piece of wire was open-ended. Thea ran her mitted fingers over the gap. It was small, but positively serviceable.

She held the D-ring as steady as the jerking, bumping van would allow. She brought her other mitted hand up to the D-ring's opening. Thea slipped the D-ring into junction between the sleeve of the jacket and the canvas mitten, where the two had been sewn together in an endearing, but semi-sloppily way by one of Thea's foster mothers. Or a psychiatrist. She couldn't remember.

The van's jerky ride proved to be the best weapon after all. As the van jerked back and forth, Thea worked the D-ring at the seam of the jacket and the mitten.

Little by little, as her kidnappers talked and the van rumbled, Thea forced the D-ring's slit into the seam. Back and forth… back and forth… back and forth. First a little hole, then a bigger rip.

Thea nearly cried with relief as the jacket and the mitten parted ways. She reached up with her free hand and undid the helmet.

Unsteadily, she sat up and reached for her feet. They were held in with the same Velcro system. Two quick pulls and they were free.

She got to her feet, crawled towards the front of the van, and popped her head up like a prairie dog.

The air got heavy, filled with electricity, and screams, and honking horns, and then there was no more movement.

* * *

><p>\"Got her!" Gary said. "Left at this intersection!"<p>

He twitched his fingers. "Something's up on the police band. A crash on the next block."

"That's got to be them," Rosen said.

Duncan floored it and the van's occupants clung to whatever was handy.

They soared through the intersection and the crash was there – a fifteen-passenger van had jumped the curb and slammed into a light post.

"Here!" Gary said.

Rosen threw open the van door and shoved his way out, Skillet and Duncan and Gary and Skylar following.

Rosen ran towards the van. He found himself praying – _Please God, please God, let it be her_ – but it was all to the tune of the Monkees' theme song.

As he reached the van, one of the back doors swung open hesitantly. The open door was accompanied immediately by a familiar scream, a familiar wail.

Thea half-fell out of the back of the van, sprawling onto the concrete. One of her canvas mittens had been ripped from her protective jacket, and her helmet hung loosely in one hand. Her unprotected head hit the sidewalk and she sobbed.

In her scream Rosen could almost hear words – _No, no, no…_

"Thea!" flew out of Skylar's mouth before she could stop herself, and she hurried towards the girl.

On the sidewalk Thea curled into a ball, a screaming, sobbing, snotty, bloody ball. "_Nah. Nah. Nah!"_ she screamed.

"She's got the helmet off!" Rosen said to Skylar.

"I can see that, Doc!"

"So how do we get her to come with us without ending up with applesauce brains?"

"Very carefully!" Skylar replied, a bit hysterically. She put her hands up to her ears as though she could block out Thea's screams, and when Rosen turned to look at her he saw tears in the older Alpha's eyes.

He didn't know who to comfort.

Sirens began to fill the air.

"Skillet," Duncan said, "get the girl."

"Getting the girl," the TA said, and without another word he walked towards Thea.

"Don't -!" Rosen exclaimed.

But Skillet merely leaned down and scooped Thea into his arms. Her helmet dangled from her hand, whacking Skillet in the thigh, but he turned and walked back towards Duncan's minivan as smoothly as though his knees had been oiled.

"Come on," Skillet said in his monotone.

With Thea up from the sidewalk Rosen turned his attention to the van. He could plainly see two men slumped in the front. Blood dripped from both heads onto the van's floor.

He probably would have stayed there for hours, transfixed by the blood, but Gary grabbed his sleeve. "Let's go, Dr. Rosen," he said.

Thea's screams echoed throughout the van as Skillet held her. His face was stoic, revealing no emotion. Her screams could have been little pebbles thrown against an iron wall. Skillet was immovable.

* * *

><p>Duncan slammed the van back into motion and they headed away from the crash site as the sirens got closer.<p>

The professor pulled into his driveway and turned around to assess the situation.

Thea was still screaming, the heartbreaking screams that were as close to words as she could get out – "_Nah. Nah. Bah. Nah!"_

Rosen looked shell-shocked.

Skillet looked as though he was at a golf match. Or watching a pot of water boil. Something innocuous and mildly interesting.

Skylar was sobbing. When she felt Duncan's eyes on her she looked up. "It's the hormones!" she snapped at him, angry through her tears.

"I'm okay," Gary said from the passenger seat.

"You're my rock, Gary," Duncan said. "Skillet, let's get our guests inside."

"Getting our guests inside."

Inside Duncan hurried to flick on lights. Gary moved to the living room, where Duncan's lunchbox collection was stored.

"Is there anything she really likes?" Skillet asked, raising his voice to be heard over Thea.

"The bathtub," Skylar said, tears still dripping down her face. "She loves the bathtub."

"To the bathtub," Skillet said, and he moved down the hallway to Duncan's bathroom.

The professor hurried ahead of him to turn on the water. The bathtub was luckily one of the nicest on the market; large, round, and smooth, with optional bubbling jets. Water rushed into it, filling the tub quickly.

"Doc, you wanna give me a hand here?" Duncan said.

"Of course." Rosen quickly helped Skillet get Thea's ripped jacket, sweat pants, and shoes and socks off. Skillet lifted the girl into the bathtub.

As the water soaked into Thea's undershirt and underpants she almost seemed to relax.

Then she brought one hand up to her mouth and savagely bit her fingers.

"Get the helmet back on!" Rosen said, and grabbed it from the floor. With Skillet restraining Thea's arms he slipped it over her head and snapped it.

This time there was more relaxation. The screams softened, then became hiccups. Thea swished her hands in the bathtub. Blood trailed away from her hands; she couldn't see it and it didn't bother her like it did everyone else in the room.

After another moment Thea put her hand up to the helmet's mask. "_Nuh. Nah. Nnn…ohh."_

"No?" Rosen asked softly, unsure if she was making the effort to talk or just babbling.

She punched herself fiercely in the chest. "_Buh."_

Duncan and Skillet quietly left the bathroom. "We'll make some dinner," Duncan said. "Take as long as you need."

Rosen stuck his head out into the hallway. "Skylar, come here," he requested.

She walked towards him hesitantly.

"I think she's trying to talk," Rosen said.

"But she doesn't… talk."

"I know that. But listen."

For a moment they listened, Rosen standing near the tub and Skylar perched on the closed toilet.

"_Nnn…ohh_," Thea repeated. "_Buh_."

"_No_," Rosen translated softly. "_Bad_."

Thea gripped the helmet's mask tightly. "_Thhhhhh…. Buh_."

"She thinks she's bad," Rosen translated.

At this Skylar's eyes filled again with tears, which she wiped away fiercely with the back of her hand. "No, Thea, you did the right thing to get away from… whoever those guys were."

"_Thhhh… buh. Sahhhhh."_

"Sad?" Rosen asked. "You're sad?"

"_Thhh… buh. Sk…. Sahhhh."_

At that point her words were choked off by a sob, and she slammed her hands into the water as though to avoid dealing with whatever emotion was bubbling up.

"Skylar?" Rosen repeated, trying to hang onto Thea's last words. "Skylar?"

"I'm right here, Thea," Skylar said.

Thea let out a pinched, hiccup of a sob. "_Thhh…. Buh. Sk…errr…. Suhhh."_

"Thea, bad… Skylar, sad?" Skylar repeated. "No, no, Thea… you did a wonderful job."

"_Thh…. Buh!"_ the girl protested.

"Thea did good," Skylar said. "Skylar's not sad."

She quickly tried to wipe her face, as though forgetting that Thea couldn't see her.

"Damn hormones," Rosen said for Skylar, and she gave him a twisty sad smile.

"Skylar is proud. And Skylar is happy that Thea is safe."

The splashing stopped and Thea tilted her head. "_Thhh… Sk…err… sffff?"_

"Thea, Skylar, safe," Skylar repeated.

"_Thhh… surrrr…. Eee?"_

"You don't have to be sorry," Skylar said. "You did the right thing."

"And you're going to be safe," Rosen said. "We will never let anything like that happen to you again."

Thea's breathing became rapid, and after a moment her lips turned upward in a smile.

It looked odd on her face, Rosen thought as he realized the blind girl was laughing, but it looked completely right.

"_Thhh… Sk… sfff,"_ Thea repeated. "_Hhh…yy."_

"Happy," Skylar said.

"_Hhhh… eeee,"_ Thea said. "_Sfffff."_

She stretched her arms out and splashed the water heartily, rapid-breathing laughter in and out.

"I'll go check on dinner," Rosen said.

At the doorway he stopped and looked back at Skylar. Skylar's eyes were on Thea, and the older Alpha was beaming even though she was still crying.

"Hormones," Rosen murmured with a smile, and closed the bathroom door behind him.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry for the break in between chapters... I fell deeply in love with "Warehouse 13," which also airs on Syfy, and I've been doing my best to keep up with that as well as with school.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Dr. Rosen, would you like some more chicken?" Gary asked.<p>

"No, thank you, Gary."

"Would you like some more mashed potatoes?"

"No, thank you, Gary."

"Would you like some more salad?"

"No, thank you, Gary."

"Would you like some more water?"

"Sure, Gary, that sounds great."

In his monotone, Skillet said, "The chicken is delicious, Professor. Maybe your best yet."

"Well, thank you, Skillet," Professor Duncan said. "Perhaps I'll make it the next time you and Ginger come for dinner."

"Uhhh," Skillet said, still in his flat tone. "We'll have to get back together, then."

"What'd she leave you for this time?"

"She said I wasn't attentive to her feminine needs."

"And that's the end of _that_ line of questioning," Duncan said. "I'll have some more mashed potatoes, Gary."

"Of course, Professor!"

"How did you like my new lunchboxes?"

"The Beatles ones were my favorite," Gary replied. Softly, he sang, "_We all live in a yellow submarine…"_

Rosen smiled as he tried to get a spoonful of blenderized chicken into Thea's mouth. They were like a family in a weird, _weird_ kind of way.

Thea bit down on the spoon, hard.

"Come on, Thea," Rosen said. "Do we really have to do this every bite?"

Thea reached up and grabbed the spoon and threw it over Rosen's shoulder.

"I'll get it," Skillet said.

Rosen took another spoon from the pile next to him. "It's lucky your grandmother was a hoarder, Duncan. I've never seen such prodigious quantities of flatware."

"That crazy old broad never got rid of anything," Duncan said a bit wistfully. "I never knew how much I hated shopping until Gran passed away." He took a bite of salad. "By the way, if you ever want some Fiesta Ware, and I mean, _ever_, you know where I am."

"Is that what's in that shed in the backyard?" Gary asked.

"Yes. That, and dolls. So… many… dolls," Duncan said.

"Why didn't you get rid of all that stuff?" Rosen wanted to know, laughing.

"I'm selling it off, bit by bit," Duncan said. "You can't flood Ebay all at once or people get bored."

Thea took the spoon out of her mouth and tossed it, landing it with a _clink_ in the corner.

"I'll get it," Skylar said to Skillet. "I have to pee anyway."

She shoved herself out of her seat, bent down to grab the spoon, let out an _oof_, pushed herself upright, dropped the spoon on the table, and headed down the hallway.

"Gross," Skillet said in his monotone, and took a long drink of iced tea.

"I see why your girlfriend might have left," Duncan said.

"Thea, drink some of your juice," Rosen suggested, reaching for his own dinner plate.

Thea fumbled on the table next to her and smashed the sippy cup between her newly-re-mittened hands. She got it up to her mouth and drank thirstily.

Rosen managed to get some mashed potatoes in his mouth. Quickly he dropped his fork as Thea tossed the sippy cup, reaching up to grab the cup out of the air.

"Excellent catch," Skillet said.

"I used to play baseball in college," Rosen said.

"Those were the glory days," Duncan mused, his fork full of mashed potatoes still waving in the air. "Dated a different girl every week…"

"… went to parties," Rosen agreed.

"Did you join a fraternity?" Gary asked. "There are many media examples of collegiate brotherhood tales that center around membership in a fraternity. And they fascinate me. Would you say that fraternity brothers are more like co-workers or family members?"

"Somewhere in the middle," Duncan said with a laugh. "And no, I was never in a fraternity."

"Neither was I," Rosen said.

"I was," Skillet said.

"Wow," Gary said.

"Yeah, it wasn't like I thought it would be," Skillet said. "It's also not like the movies."

"So, no drinking or beer pong?" Gary asked.

"No, there was plenty of that. But I lived in a house with fourteen other guys… and it wasn't that big of a house. And no one liked to cook, except for one guy who was studying to be a chef, so we ate a lot of ramen."

"That sounds pretty typical," Rosen said.

"We also had board game tournament weekends," Skillet said. "It's how I got so good at Operation." He pumped one fist a bit lackadaisically. "Steady hands, steady heart, steady mind."

"Was that your motto?"

"No. Our motto was something incredibly vague like… _brotherhood, fortitude, sexiness_. Except less vague. And in Latin. It's been a long time," Skillet said, and embarrassedly reached for the iced tea pitcher.

"Skillet, didn't you graduate three years ago?"

"Three years ago with my undergraduate," Skillet replied. "Then I did my grad work in two years. Now I'm on my Ph.D."

"That's my little prodigy," Duncan said pleasantly. "Who wants dessert?"

Thea arched her back and spasmed out of the chair, landing on the hardwood floor. "_Hah!"_ she informed the ceiling.

Rosen leaned down to fasten her helmet on. "Be free, little starfish," he said.

His phone rang as he straightened up. "Rosen."

"We found the tattoo," Rachel said without pretense. "Belongs to a mid-level gang in Albany. They tattoo their members with a combination of regular tattoo ink and ashes from their dead leader's urn."

"Creepy. Thank you for the information."

"At the moment they're led by a butcher named McDowell."

"So he's known for killing people," Rosen mused.

"What? No. He's an actual butcher," Rachel corrected. "You know, like with the animal meats… and the big knives. He also owns two moving companies and a used bookstore."

"Diverse assets."

"Yeah. Like we discovered before, the gang is called the Hand of Justice. The fake Mack Richardson, who sent those guys after you at your house, is one of McDowell's aliases. We think the tattoos allow them to have some sort of physical connection, whether it's to each other or to McDowell we're not sure. It's not a Greek symbol, though – but we're still trying to figure out what it is. And we're still trying to figure out what the Hand of Justice wants with Thea. Other than the obvious Red Flag connection."

"Thanks for the updates."

"We'll keep searching," Rachel said. "We're all pulling an all-nighter."

In the background a female voice called something out.

"Oh," Rachel said, "Nina wants to know how Skylar and Gary are."

"They're both fine," Rosen said. "We're at the professor's house for dinner."

"He's a good cook," Rachel said. "It's all in the hands."

"Hands," Rosen mused. A mental image of the two bleeding men in the van was coming back to him. "Is it possible that some of the Hand of Justice members would have their tattoo somewhere else than behind the ear?"

"Anything's possible," Rachel said, a verbal shrug in her voice. "Why? Did you see someone else with the same tattoo?"

"I might have," Rosen said.

He was going to say more, telling her about the two men in the van, but there was a _crash_ followed by a loud _thump_.

"Gotta go," he said, and shoved his phone back into his pocket. "Thea?!"

Thea was sitting docilely in the living room with a _National Geographic_ magazine held up to her helmet, staring at a close-up photo of a monkey.

"If it's not you…" Rosen murmured.

Panic seized him and he stepped quickly down the hallway to the bathroom. "Skylar?" he called, knocking.

No response.

"What was that noise?" Duncan said from behind him.

"I don't know," Rosen said. "Skylar?"

He jimmied the door handle. "Skylar, are you all right?"

The door, like a guilty child responding to parental pressure, squeaked and then swung open.

The broken mirror was the first thing that caught Rosen's eye, sparkling all over the floor in vicious glassy shards.

The second thing that caught his eye was Skylar, sprawled out limply on the floor, unconscious.


End file.
